The rest of the day they tripped and trekked through the forest. Some parts became exceedingly dense with vines and creepers of ivy criss-crossing the path. Kashvi fell back at these points and linked her arm with Devon's, guiding him through.
Devon talked the whole damn time; it made Mateo edgy as he tried to listen for any predators lurking nearby.
However, a run in with a lone Beta, Mateo figured, might not be the worst thing. A wolf would kill the kids and then maybe Mateo could get free before it could turn on him. Maybe he might even be able to convince the ronin to set him loose? The promise of a return trip to the forts perhaps? Mateo zoned back in to hear Devon telling him about his Dad,
"He used to be a surgeon, before the bombs I mean, I don't remember much because I was super young but I think I remember his scrubs, they were green or blue…maybe."
Mateo looked up, he could smell a thick sadness coming off the boy. He figured his father must have been killed along with everybody else.
"It's sick how I remember more about Ginger than I do my own Dad," Devon bit out as he scraped his knuckles against the bark of a tree they passed.
Who was Ginger?
"We'll camp here tonight." Kashvi called back to them. She was standing by a small clearing. It was a bad idea, scents pooled in clearings making them little aroma pockets within the forest, calling out to any ronin wolves. Mateo settled his mouth in a grim line, it wasn’t like he was going to advise against it.
He wasn’t sure when the humans were going to reach their destination but it was probably going to end badly for him if they did. He had heard of werewolves being sold as prizes amongst the human communities, witches bought them for experiments and testing or interrogation, if they thought the wolf had useful information.
Humans bought them as trophies or to sell on to the witches, sometimes they even tried to retrain them as attack dogs.
Mateo scoffed, he couldn't ever see that working. Regardless, he was probably going to end up killed or worse. If he could just get free of the damn baned ropes.
"Do they hurt?"
Mateo looked up, Devon was staring towards him.
"I can feel you tugging about on the ropes." The boy explained, "Are they hurting you?"
"Of course they fucking hurt," Mateo growled, "It's poison for me, and it's touching my bare skin."
"And if they weren't there he would have eaten us alive by now." Kashvi announced breezily, shucking off her pack and sitting down in the clearing.
"I didn't know how much wolfsbane to use," Devon sighed, walking forwards, tugging Mateo behind him. "Maybe I used too much?"
Kashvi scoffed, "He's an Alpha Devon, you can never use too much."
"But you wouldn't want him damaged would you Kashvi? Might knock a lot off his price."
Mateo flicked his eyes up, Kashvi was fixing him with an assessing gaze.
"He'll be fine Devon, he looks like he could take a truck load of wolfsbane in his stride."
Mateo glared back at her and sat down heavily against the thick trunk of a tree. He watched as Kashvi took the rope from Devon and tied it around another trunk, then proceeded to start collecting firewood.
A fire?- another dumb idea, seriously, why weren't these children corpses already or lining some wolf's stomach?
"You're an Alpha," Devon murmured thoughtfully after a while, "That means you must have a pack, where are they?"
Mateo closed his eyes before answering, "Dead."
"Killed by the witches that gave you those wounds?" Kashvi asked, bustling up beside them and rooting about her pack. She drew out a dead rat. "Dinner," she smiled at Mateo acidly.
Mateo huffed and nodded, "Yes, witches."
"Fucking witches," Devon spat, pulling his hood up. The rain had already started to come splattering down through the trees. Kashvi humphed and threw the kindling on the ground,
"Damn it why are you always right about the rain? No chance of a fire now then. Raw rat it is."
"Ratatouille," replied Devon before snorting with laughter. Mateo rolled his eyes, Kashvi hadn't been kidding about the jokes thing.
Mateo was served the rat's ass and tail along with an evil look from Kashvi. He growled but swallowed it down uncomfortably. He would take what he could get and he needed protein to try and heal from his injuries.
Kashvi smelled exhausted, drained almost, Mateo wondered about what Devon had let slip, something about hexes being painful? He hadn't figured out yet whether these kids were fully human or not.
Mateo watched as the rain started pelting down in heavier sheets and Kashvi scooted over closer to Devon. She wrapped a leather blanket around the two of them, nuzzling her face down against his hoodie. Mateo felt a pang of longing in his chest for his pack. He fell asleep against the tree, smelling their loss on himself.
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